Monday, March 31, 2008

Study: Mind/Body Methods Help Pain from Surgery

Undergoing surgery is traumatic enough, but the pain afterward can be debilitating for some patients. A study by the Mayo Clinic find that mind/body methods can help.
Adding to the growing movement and evidence of the benefit of integrative healing, a new study from the Mayo clinic finds that massage therapy helps decrease pain for patients recovering from heart surgery. Read more

Friday, March 28, 2008

Ayahuasca: The World's Most Powerful Herbal Medicine

The word Ayahuasca refers to a medicinal and magical drink incorporating two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing profound mental, physical and spiritual effects when brewed together and consumed in a ceremonial setting. Ayahuasca is the world's most powerful herbal medicine. It is used to treat diabetes, addiction, AIDS, cancer, chronic fatigue, asthma etc.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Cup of Black Tea Could Defend Against Anthrax Threat

Welsh and U.S. researchers say black tea - without milk - may be an antidote to the Bacillus anthracis - anthrax.
A new study by an international team of researchers from Cardiff University and University of Maryland has revealed how the humble cup of tea could well be an antidote to Bacillus anthracis --more commonly know as anthrax. Read more

Friday, March 21, 2008

Get a Natural Face-lift with Face Yoga

Women (and men) want to look younger, but is having your face surgically lifted the answer? The 15 Worst Celebrity Plastic Surgery Disasters You Will Ever See will make you think twice about undergoing cosmetic surgery. Plus, doctors are warning of superbug infections in face lifts. Is there a natural alternative to face-lift surgery?
Annelise Hagen, a Brooklyn-based yoga instructor and author of The Yoga Face: Eliminate Wrinkles with the Ultimate Natural Facelift, created her anti-aging workout based on a simple principle: If the muscles of the face are no different from the muscles in the rest of your body, it only stands to reason that you can tighten and tone them the same way you do the muscles below the neck.

Partly based on vocal training techniques used by actors, The Yoga Face comprises facial exercises, body poses, and breathing methods meant to detox the skin and keep it strong and supple, without Botox, surgery, or expensive "lifting" creams. Here are some of the face-massage techniques Hagen says will rejuvenate your complexion, while releasing built-up tension—which Hagen says probably accounts for 50 percent of the appearance of aging: Read more


Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Monday, March 10, 2008

Cosmetics: Cancer, Infertility, and More

Cosmetics are put on the body to cleanse it, make it attractive, or change its appearance. Unlike drugs, which are used to treat or prevent disease in the body, cosmetics are not supposed to change or affect the body's structure or functions. However, author Stacy Malkan reveals that the everyday products we put in our hair and on our skin may be responsible for cancer, infertility, and more.
Carcinogens in cosmetics? Petrochemicals in perfume? If only this were an urban legend. Unfortunately, it's a toxic reality, and it's showing up in our bodies.

In 2004, scientists found pesticides in the blood of newborn babies. A year later, researchers discovered perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, in human breast milk. Today, people are testing positive for a litany of hazardous substances from flame retardants to phthalates to lead.

In her new book, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry, Stacy Malkan exposes the toxic chemicals that lurk, often unlabeled, in the personal care products that millions of American women, men and children use every day. Read more

Monday, March 3, 2008

Vaccines, Depression, and Neurodegeneration after Age 50

Vaccines are credited with reducing the rates of infectious illness though improved sanitation and diet undoubtedly played a role as well. Whatever their virtues, vaccines also have drawbacks, which people need to know in order to make an informed decision as to whether to get vaccinated. Below are a few excerpts from an important article about the danger of the overuse of vaccines.
Public health authorities and physician societies are in an all out campaign to have every elderly person vaccinated every year with the flu vaccine as well as a growing number of newer vaccines. When I was practicing neurosurgery, the hospitals had an automatic written order on all older patients' charts mandating a flu vaccine, unless it was countermanded by the physician, which I always did.

[...]

Many elderly report that the flu shot gave them the flu. Proponents of vaccines, retort with a condescending laugh; that it is impossible because the flu vaccine contains killed flu viruses. In truth, what these people are reporting is a prolonged, intense "sickness behavior" response to the vaccine. To the body, it is worse than getting the flu.

[...]

Anxiety is a major problem with depression, and vaccinations will greatly worsen the condition. In fact, vaccination, especially multiple vaccinations, will maintain the brain in a state of inflammation that will be self-perpetuating, because the excess release of glutamate in the brain, as well as glutamate in the diet, will further enhance microglial activation and excitotoxicity. Read more